Man In The Wild

I've been wanting to do something similar to this almost as long as I've been on the site (in other words, I should have done something like this in November/December 2001 when I first thought of my version of this idea.) The main differences are mine wouldn't have the map, the coordinates and map would show up at a later time unknown even to me, and it would not involve $50 (sorry.) I'd just like to have a way to have some pre-approved cache pages that I could quickly activate when the time comes (as long as I don't change coords, etc. that were approved initially.) We'd need some more control over the pages we create so we can select what shows and what doesn't. I'd like it so people know the cache is waiting, but not be able to see the description or map. Another option is to be able to control what the map shows. If you have the map show and don't post coords, they just have to click on the map or other links to find out where it is on the map sites. If you have control, you could show the whole state of WV instead of something centered on a point in Bluefield (or wherever.) Ok. Does this cause enough trouble for Jeremy and the approvers? If not, I can try again.

I like what CacheUsOut is suggesting, but you'd only have to add the log-only/code word/other non-trade cache type. There's already a micro size available--maybe change that to small (although the micro name could still stay the same.) If you add anything there, it'd be something between micro and regular or regular and large. Then you could hide a traditional micro cache or a large log-only cache. Given choices like that, I'm sure someone will come up for a good reason for a large log only cache (if it hasn't been done already.) I'm thinking about using a container that has a similar effect--it's normal sized on the outside, but it only holds about the same as a micro.

I haven't seen a lot of rest stop caches around here. I don't know about I-81 (although I just spent a lot of time on I-81 between the Front Royal, VA and MD with stops in WV.) You mentioned Lewisburg, WV. It's along I-64, but there's a rest stop just inside WV there. My recommendation is that someone (maybe us) place a cache there. Not quite the recommendation you were looking for, but it's a location we've thought about using for a cache from time to time.

Sounds like a good plan! We just got back from a trip where we planned to find some of the caches in the Elkins area. Instead we ended up a bit farther east getting caches in VA, MD, and the far eastern part of the panhandle. Lots of interesting areas around there!

We tried to be first to find the Crypto cache, but kept running into trouble with that 3rd part. We got about half way there in the dark with Eli. Bad idea. Then we returned after a while and tried again. This time we were at the cliff, the kids were getting wild, and the sun was about to set. With Queenfish within a few feet of where we believe the cache is, we quit and climbed back up to the car. This is a fairly steep trail and I believe it's 600' from the top to the cache, then another 500' to the bottom where the By The Bluestone cache is hidden. What's the trail like from part 3 to the bottom? I might want to take that when we get back to finally finish off this cache! (If I can take the tram one way back up.) We would have gone back to finish this cache, but the 600' climb, the long drive south, and the $2.50 or $3.75 (I don't remember if we hit all three) in tolls each way keep scaring us off... soon! I'd say it depends on your kids. If they stay back when told to, go for it. If they tend to run loose, you might not want to have them there. Ours tend to be wild, but until we spent too long hunting for this cache, they were fine in that area.

Do you have any place in mind, IWILLFIND?

Ok. Now I've seen the other icons--very nice again! After reading Bos "oil can" comment, it really looked like an oil can to me at first... I guess I see things weird with 1600x1200 resolution and all those tiny pixels. So, when do we get to see new Travel Bug and watch list 3-D icons? (Or maybe just remove the white backgrounds.)

I also love the new icons. I haven't seen the hidden/found icons yet--I'm going to check them as soon as this posts... I agree about them looking like cookie jars, but to me when I first saw the regular cache icon on Big Fig's Daniel Boone #2 cache, I was thinking, "I wonder how Big Fig got that Halloween icon on his page, and why now?" Then after a simple click, I saw all the icons and understood.

I'm still having trouble. I'm using the new 1.053 version now, and Spinner is still choking on Kanawha County, WV (and I assume other counties like Putnam which is right next door to us.) I just tried using the files with gpx2html, and it gets farther, but instead of returning the 240+ benchmarks that are in Kanawha County, it returned about 20. The gpx file created by BMGPX does give me 240+ waypoints. Right now I can load any of the waypoints into my PDA or GPS (I'd like to have all the points in something like Cetus if possible, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet...) but I can't get the descriptions in HTML for Plucker.

Thanks embra and Black Dog Trackers. Time for me to play with these options... I can load and combine the files in expertgps. If I do that, will they still contain the full descriptions, etc when I save the file? If that works, that'll work just as well as using Watcher for filtering the benchmarks I want (except possibly filtering out found benchmarks somehow.) On the combining dat files through dos (or whatever method--I like that one for speed,) I'll probably still have the same problem with the conversion to html through Spinner, but hopefully GPX2HTML will get around that trouble--I'll give that a try as well. Sounds like there are a lot more benchmarks in those VA counties! Kanawha County--prolly the most populated in WV and including the capitol, etc has about 250 (I think.) Thanks again for the help! Now to try it all out.

I guess part of the answer to my trouble is up above. Some reason I read the other posts after that and thought whatever was mentioned was fixed, but now after re-reading it looks like I'll either need to wait for the next version of Spinner or figure out what changes I need to make to the xml tags... Oh, well. It did work for the county we cached in yesterday--too bad I didn't have this file made yesterday.

Ok. It looks like I'm making some progress. I live in Kanawha County, West Virginia. For some reason Spinner chokes on the file for Kanawha County, but I just gave it another WV county and it seemed to work fine. I'll experiment a bit to see how it holds up. Does anybody know why it had trouble with Kanawha County? Thanks!

Wonderful software. I love the way it looks in Watcher when I click to view the page. But I'm still having trouble after that. I haven't been able to load a second county into Watcher. I want to be able to use Watcher to select the benchmarks that I load into my PDA and GPS, but for now I'm limited to one county at a time. It'd be much easier for me to have a file with my closest 500 or those closest to other areas--then I don't have to change the file as often. We like to grab benchmarks (just getting started) while caching, and we usually end up in a different county while caching. Having to swap out coords in the GPS when we change counties is a bit of a pain (but easy with GPilotS.) I've also had trouble running the file through Spinner. I'm about to try this again to see if I can find what needs changing. Wish me luck. If this works, I'll be VERY happy!

quote:Originally posted by Warm Fuzzies - Fuzzy:Or be hunting benchmarks Ok. This sounds great. I got bmgpx, converted my files to .gpx, but now I'm having trouble manipulating them. Watcher loads one file, but can't merge a second file and Spinner seems to have some sort of error and doesn't create any files (or they're hidden somewhere with the new version.) What's the best way to use these benchmark .gpx files? Can I convert them to a file I can use on my PDA? I'd love to do this with Spinner since I love the way it creates pages and links. (I'd really love it if we could get bm pocket queries, but I'm sure that's been mentioned before...) So, which programs do I need to run? Do I just need to make some modifications to Spinner's files?

Would you settle for West Virginia? South Peak Summit

I guess I have to get my taste buds checked. I never cared much for Gino's Pizza here in WV (like Mikedx), but then maybe that's because I'm an import. Also, Rockdoctor mentioned Skyline Chili in Cincinnati. That's another one I didn't understand. I know chili's a big deal in Cincy, but what I got was runny and thin. I'm used to chili with some meat and some heat. Maybe it was my timing since we visited late in the day. Is that the way the chili's supposed to be? Also, why was it hard to just order a bowl of chili? Is it only supposed to go on hot dogs or something? I figured if the place had chili in the name, it'd be a good place to get a bowl of chili. It's been a while, but I'm pretty sure we enjoyed the pizza in the Cincy/Dayton area--something that starts with a D. I don't remember the name. I know my family there likes it a lot. So much so that my uncle that moved to the DC area has it delivered there from Dayton. Personally, my favorite pizza is Pizza Pit Pizza from Madison, WI. Hopefully it's still as good as the last time I got it in Madison (not their Lake Mills location--that one wasn't anywhere near as good.) Also, my family loves Rocky Rococo's pizza in Wisconsin, but many will probably disagree with that one. It's sort of the Wonder Bread of pizzas.

Yeah--I figured it'd take four threads to let everyone know how much of an achievment finding 100+ caches in WV is. Yes, I would love to know how to delete three of them.

Well I sure made a mess. At least my message finally posted--all four times I tried to post it. Now if only I knew why it didn't seem to work at first. I don't remember seeing any of them listed when I posted them, but there they are--all four! Oops. Oh well, I'm sure mikedx got my message.

Every time I try to post to this forum it sends me to another blank screen and won't let me start a topic. What did I do to annoy the system so much?

But in reality it's MikeDX with the most impressive numbers around. Sure, Eli and I just reached 200 caches. Most of mine are out of state. I still feel good about my 200, but... MikeDX has over 100 finds now in West Virginia! Congratulations to MikeDX! There's a big difference here--the West Virignia caches he's finding usually require a long drive to get one cache, or several long drives to get more caches in a trip. Then, there's usually a mountain in the way or a river to cross. We all know he doesn't believe in boats! Looks like you're well on your way to finding all of the West Virginia caches--probably about 40 to go... what's next after that? Once again, CONGRATULATIONS to the #1 finder of caches in the Mountain State! (It only took me four attempts to get this thing to post... I wish I could stay logged in the site!)

So, it's now our turn to congratulate him for his achievement... 100 cache finds in West Virginia! (#100) Sure, I felt good getting our 200th find the other day... But at the same time I was really impressed by your instate count! Most of our cache finds are out of state while you have 100/120 in West Virginia where most caches involve a mountain to climb, a river to cross, or some other major obsticle. So... CONGRATULATIONS to MikeDX for 100 finds in the Mountain State!

But what really impresses me is someone finding 100 caches in West Virginia! Most of my cache finds are in other states. You found 100 in West Virginia--a state where caches usually involve climbing a mountain, crossing a river, or some other major obsticle. So... CONGRATULATIONS, MikeDX for finding 100 caches in the Mountain State!

Then find 100 WV caches! I just spotted your log for #100 in WV (Top of the Rocks) and thought about all the congratulations we've been getting for reaching 200 caches (like mine where most are out of state.) You got 100 caches in WV--where most of the caches involve climbing a mountain or some other serious challenge. Now that's an achievement! So... Congratulations to Mikedx for being the first to get 100 Mountain State caches!

Ok... It's on! April 26th at Kanawha State Forest. Eli's putting together the cache page for it now. She needs to know how many shirts to order for everyone. If you want shirts for this event, please post in the topic in the Northeast forum. The park is having some spring wildflower walks earlier in the day from 9:30AM-12:30PM. CITO event starts at 1PM (or earlier if you like) and runs until we've all dropped from exhaustion (or dark...) Hope to see everyone there!

April 26th at Kanawha State Forest. It's official. Eli's making a page for it now. The plan so far is to start the Cache-In Trash-Out event right after their Spring Wildflower Walks at 1pm until everyone drops from exhaustion. Eli needs to know who wants shirts, so tell her how many shirts you want here. We hope to see everyone there!